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HC: Card Slinger | Ch. 65 - Dingy Dungeon
🕑 Added 2025-05-22 15:13:54 +0000 UTCAfter hours of watching Terralore games and grinding his way through this jungle dungeon, Deckard was finally here—facing the final boss. An
After hours of watching Terralore games and grinding his way through this jungle dungeon, Deckard was finally here—facing the final boss.
And it was terrifying.
SWOOSH!
He dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the blur of a stone sword. The weapon struck the ground where he’d just been, hard enough to rattle the canopy. Leaves rained down around him.
Too fast.
But he was keeping up. Barely.
The movement speed bonuses from adding macaque cards to his repository were adding up, giving him just enough edge to dodge in time.
You’ve seen the Macaque Weaponmaster wield a sword.
Your understanding of it grows.
His heart thundered in his chest. He was at the end of the dungeon. If he lost now, it was all over. And this time, he doubted he could make it back here alone.
[Subdimensionalize] only worked once per creature. Without it, there was no way he’d make it past the elites again. Alone, at least.
He slung cards rapid-fire, his hands a blur.
The Weaponmaster prepared to swing again, but Deckard was ready. He’d watched dozens of videos of players fighting this boss. He recognized the signs—the subtle step back, the roll of the shoulder before the strike.
Seagull Dash!
The burst of speed let him sidestep the slash and swing around behind the boss.
Pinch Point!
A red shimmer lit up the macaque’s hindquarters. Its weak point was its behind. Deckard snatched a card from his belt and hurled it like a dagger.
Heavy Shot!
-136!
The boss snarled. The wooden platform cracked under its weight as it staggered. Then, in one fluid motion, it tossed the sword aside and drew a spear from its back.
The weapon lashed out, too fast to follow.
-38
-31
Deckard stumbled back, gritting his teeth. His arm and side burned—the jagged spear had grazed him twice before he could even react.
You’ve seen the Macaque Weaponmaster wield a spear.
Your understanding of it grows.
Another insight.
He shuffled a card between his fingers, breath ragged. The change in weapons was bad news for him. With the increased range, he wasn’t sure he could manage to keep dodging.
This was it. He’d whittled the boss’s health down as far as he could. He’d gathered as much understanding as he dared.
The boss lunged—spear aimed straight at his heart.
Subdimensionalize!
The card in his hand lit up. A vortex ripped open, wind howling as it pulled at the jungle warlord. Leaves and dust swirled into chaos. The macaque roared and braced—
—but it wasn’t enough.
With a final snarl, it vanished into the void.
Capture successful! You’ve captured [Macaque Weaponmaster].
Deckard dropped to his knees, arms trembling. Adrenaline still surged through his veins.
“Ooof. That... that actually worked.”
He tilted his head back and let out a shaky laugh.
He’d done it. All three dungeons on the island—solo.
The moment the boss turned into a card, a ring echoed from the system.
“Uh? What is this?”
Congratulations! You’ve conquered the Armed Macaque’s Nest.
[Lone Wolf] has been upgraded into [Lone Vanguard].
“Huh? This title upgrades?”
He opened the title’s description and read quickly.
Lone Vanguard (Rare)
You refuse to put others in harm’s way and tackle the fears of the dark alone.
Effects:
Passive. +5 attack, +5% damage resistance, +5% status resistance when running dungeons.
Bonus quadruples when running a dungeon alone.
Conditions to unlock [Lone Vanguard]:
Run three complete dungeons matching your level by yourself. {complete}
“Quadruples? Nice.”
The bonuses for party play hadn’t changed, but the boost for going solo had become something else entirely—something even more powerful.
[Lone Wolf] had been crucial in helping him clear both Gull Rock and the Armed Macaques’ Nest. With his low attack, ten bonus points made a massive difference. The only issue had been scaling—ten damage meant something against a creature with 200 HP, but not so much when that creature had 2,000.
He’d assumed the title would eventually become obsolete. Now, that didn’t seem so certain. If it evolved with him, it could remain a vital part of his build.
Deckard took a breath and stood up, his legs still a little shaky from the fight. Confidence stirred in his chest.
Maybe he could solo the dungeons near the mid-grade cities.
Deckard turned his attention toward the card in his hands. It showed the Weapon Master poised in a fierce stance, a stone sword in one hand and an axe in the other. The card shimmered faintly with silver edging, and depending on how he tilted it, the weapon in the macaque’s off-hand seemed to shift—sometimes a spear, sometimes a club. As if the figure inside couldn’t decide what to fight with.
“Hmmm… It’s like a joker.”
All the skill cards he’d picked up in this dungeon were weapon mastery buffs. Each gave a minor bonus to any creature, but triggered a stronger effect when paired with a specific macaque.
[Axe Mastery], for example, granted a flat +1 bonus to any creature—but gave +3 if used with the axe-wielding macaque. That made macaque decks a constant balancing act between luck and synergy.
But with the Weaponmaster?
That changed everything.
He could activate axe, sword, or spear mastery—didn’t matter. This card treated them all as compatible. Every bonus would trigger. Every synergy would fire.
It made a macaque buff deck a little more viable. However, the deck would still remain fickle. You still had to draw the right creature and the right buff at just the right time—and that hurt consistency.
Deckard opened the repository and flipped to the forest-green page filled with macaque cards: nine basic macaques, nine weapon mastery buffs, and two elites.
One of those elites was already a lock for his deck:
This is the best card I could farm here. Hands down.
A card generator. It started slow, sure, but it created value every single turn. If he needed to squeeze out one more point on a creature, one of the randomly generated weapon mastery cards could bridge the gap.
But that wasn’t the real power.
The real power was tempo.
Every turn, it gave him an extra card to discard—fuel for more expensive plays, combo pieces, or just pressure. That kind of value engine could let him outpace and outlast opponents in longer fights.
Deckard nodded, satisfied. “OK! Time to join your friends, Weaponmaster.”
He pressed the card to the repository, and it vanished with a soft pull. The page shimmered, casting a green glow over the assembled macaques.
You’ve completed the Beginner Island Dungeon Set.
You’ve unlocked a new card:
“What a card.”
Cost reduction was one of the most powerful mechanics in card games. Off the top of his head, he pictured this landmark in play, then dropping both [The Claw] and [Sea Ghoul] the very next turn. That kind of tempo swing was borderline broken.
His only gripe was its speed. If he drew it too late, it did almost nothing. Unlike the landmark tied to Ratu’s puppeteer, which was guaranteed in the opening hand, this one could easily end up buried at the bottom of the deck.
Still… it was good. Very good.
He closed the repository and stood up, still processing what just happened. He hadn’t expected such a solid reward.
The dungeons had formed another set.
It had happened before—when he collected all the cards along Beginner Island’s beaches. But he hadn’t realized the three jungle dungeons were linked into a set of their own, too.
Now I can’t help but wonder what the reward is for collecting every card on the island.
Until now, he’d been worried about how long his stay in the beginner region was taking. But not anymore. Not with upgrades like these waiting just around the corner.
For now, there was still one elite left to track down.
He opened the system window and beamed out of the dungeon, ready for the hunt.
*
The only macaque elite on the island outside the dungeon was the Wandering Macaque.
It was prized for its gear drops. While the dungeon macaques provided plenty of offensive boosts through weapons and mastery skills, they offered little in the way of defense. The Wandering Macaque, by contrast, dropped some of the best gear available on the island, at least until players reached the final wild boss area.
True to its name, it had no fixed spawn point. It could appear anywhere in the jungle, and once it did, it wouldn’t sit still. It swung from tree to tree, covering ground fast.
That made it hard to track—but that unpredictability worked in Deckard’s favor. It meant fewer players camping the macaque. And unlike most elites, multiple Wandering Macaques could be active at once, scattered throughout the jungle.
Or so the forums claimed.
The first decision I have to make is whether to stay put and hope it passes by… or to roam and try my luck.
After a moment’s thought, Deckard decided to roam.
The moment he stepped beyond the perimeter of the macaque dungeon, the change in atmosphere was immediate. The background hum of player chatter and distant combat faded until only the forest remained.
Birds chirped high in the canopy. Unseen insects buzzed lazily through shafts of sunlight. Somewhere far off, macaques screeched and chattered in the treetops.
Few players ventured this deep unless they were hunting the elite—or making the long trek to the island’s final wild boss. The jungle had a pleasant, untamed stillness to it, like it had reclaimed this part of the island entirely.
On his first walk through the jungle, he’d been tense, flinching at every sound, expecting disaster to strike at any moment.
And it had. The Puppeteer had found him. Challenged him. Then promised to leave him alone.
Now, without that looming threat, he could finally breathe and appreciate the beauty in this place.
A sudden rustle made him freeze. Leaves shook, and a short, nasal call echoed through the trees. He caught a glimpse of movement in the canopy.
There!
Seagull Dash!
He burst forward. Then he looked up—and stopped.
False alarm.
It was just a Clubhouse Macaque. Dangling by its feet, it chittered at him with casual disinterest.
Deckard exhaled and resumed walking, pacing himself carefully now. The Wandering Macaque was always on the move, and in a jungle this dense, catching even a glimpse could come down to seconds.
He pushed deeper into the underbrush until he spotted a group of players sweeping the area. They moved in a staggered line—spaced out just enough to maximize coverage, but close enough to leap to each other’s aid if needed.
Deckard frowned. They were coming from the opposite direction.
If they hadn’t seen the Wandering Macaque yet, that wasn’t a good sign.
Still, he stayed his course. There was always a chance he could stumble across a freshly spawned elite—or maybe one trailing behind the group, swinging in the same direction but not yet within their reach.
He pressed on.
After a few more routine macaque encounters, he heard something different.
There was another rustle above—but heavier this time. The creak of thick branches followed it.
Deckard looked up.
And there it was.
Wandering Macaque (Elite)
Lvl. 7
HP: 2000
Energy: 100
You’ve inspected a Wandering Macaque. Your understanding of it grows.
The elite swung rapidly from tree to tree, branches bowing beneath its weight. Deckard broke into a run, trying to match its path through the underbrush.
Pinch Point!
A faint red glow marked the macaque’s head.
You’ve seen the weakness of the Wandering Macaque. Your understanding of it grows.
Ever since discovering that [Pinch Point] could boost his understanding of creatures without triggering aggro, he’d been spamming it at every opportunity.
He kept pace as best he could, eyes fixed on the macaque.
You’ve observed the Wandering Macaque roaming. Your understanding of it grows.
Eventually, the chase led him straight to the player group he’d passed earlier.
“There’s one up there!”
“There’s a player too! Don’t let him take the elite!”
The party quickly converged, two of them peeling off toward Deckard with weapons drawn.
He raised his hands and stopped. “I don’t want any trouble. It’s all yours.” He took a step back, palms open.
The players skidded to a halt, still tense. But seeing Deckard back off without a fight, they turned and rushed to support their teammates.
Deckard hung back, staying just close enough to observe the battle.
The Wandering Macaque swung from branch to branch, pelting the party with fruits. But once they landed a few solid blows, it dropped to the ground with a snarl.
The beast was strong and fast. The party had to spread out, flanking from multiple sides to pin it down and keep it from leaping back into the canopy.
You’ve seen the Wandering Macaque fight. Your understanding of it grows.
This elite didn’t linger in one place long, and observing it mid-battle wasn’t easy. But if he repeated this process—spot, follow, watch, withdraw—he was confident he could rack up enough understanding points to capture it.
After a short battle, the macaque finally fell. Deckard turned around and resumed his march.
Time to find the next one.
Ch. 64 – Master of the Macaque Nest
Comments
Cássio Ferreira
Wow! Thank you for binging. I'm glad you liked it.
Firf
Wow, I read all chapters in 2 days. Very good story, I will be waiting for more!
Cássio Ferreira
Nice! Those are classics. Don't be impressed. I've always played them digitally. It's not like I have this huge collection. But yeah, I love TCG games.
Stonecold
Nice! I mostly just play MTG these days. I used to play a good bit of pokemon with my wife and our friends but that has fallen off over the years. I will say I'm very impressed with all the the games you have played.
